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Wantage
Wantage  Wantage shown within Oxfordshire
Population	9,767 (2001 census)
OS grid reference	SU399878
- London	72.3mi
District	Vale of White Horse
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WANTAGE
Postcode district	OX12
Dialling code	01235
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Wantage
Website	Wantage community website
List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire

Wantage

Wantage is located at the foot of the Berkshire Downs in the Vale of the White Horse, amidst prime horse racing country. There are gallops at Black Bushes and nearby villages with racing stables include Letcombe Bassett, East Hendred, Lockinge and Uffington. Wantage includes the suburbs of Belmont to the west and Charlton to the east. Grove to the north is still just about detached and is a separate parish. Wantage parish stretches from the northern edge of its housing up onto the Downs in the south, covering Chain Hill, Edge Hill, Wantage Down, Furzewick Down and Lattin Down. The Edgehill Springs rise between Manor Road and Spike Lodge Farms and the Letcombe Brook flows through the town. Because it is right in the middle of the Vale and just off the Downs, Wantage tends to be the main touring centre for the area and is home to the Vale and Downland Museum. There is a large market square containing the famous statue of King Alfred, surrounded by many shops with 18th century facades. Quieter streets radiate out from there, including towards the large parish church (see below).

Wantage is the 'Alfredston' of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure.

As of 2007, Wantage is developing and changing. In recent years four or more significant housing developments have been constructed bringing large increases in population to the town. At least one development (including the new health centre) has been on a greenfield site adjacent to the A338 road towards Oxford. The other three, however, have been on brownfield sites, converting a scrapyard next to the Letcombe Brook. While making the town tidier, the impact on the wildlife, particularly around the Letcombe Brook, may not be positive.

Since 2006, a large commercial development has been under construction with a Sainsbury's supermarket as a central focus. This supermarket is double the size of the previous one and will have a significant impact on the town by drawing more visitors from outlying villages. The impact could be positive, preventing the town becoming a commuter town and retaining some commercial activity. Alternatively, it could be negative, driving the few remaining independent retailers out of business. The supermarket chain has a similarly large store in nearby Didcot (15 minutes drive away).

Wantage has a town council consisting of sixteen councillors, twelve of whom (as of 2007) are Liberal Democrats. It is also part of the district of the Vale of White Horse.

Wantage sits at the crossing of the B4507 valley road, the A417 Reading to Cirencester road and the A338 Hungerford (and junction 14 of the M4 motorway) to Oxford road.

Wantage was once served by a tramway linking it to the Great Western Railway but little trace of this now remains apart from the former station building in Mill Street. One of the locomotives (Shannon, alias Jane) is preserved at Didcot Railway Centre.

Wantage is connected to Oxford, Didcot, Abingdon and Faringdon by regular bus services. These services also tend the intervening villages such as East Hanney and Grove. The fastest public bus journey from Wantage to Oxford takes approximately 45 minutes, the slowest can take over 1 hour 15 minutes. A regular local bus service is operated by White's Coaches 38 service which links Wantage, Challow, Childrey, Chilton and Grove.

The former Wantage Road railway station was about three miles from the town, in nearby Grove to the north on the A338. A very small portion of the Wilts & Berks Canal is still within the parish.

Wantage was a small Roman settlement^{[citation needed]} but the origins of the name are somewhat controversial. It is generally thought to be a Saxon phrase meaning "decreasing river". King Alfred the Great was born at the royal palace there in the 9th century^{[citation needed]} Wantage appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. Its value was £61 and it was in the king's ownership until Richard I passed it to the Earl of Albemarle in 1190. Weekly trading rights were first granted to the town by Henry III in 1216^{[citation needed]} Markets are now held twice weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays^{[citation needed]}

Royalist troops were stationed in Wantage during the English Civil War, and in the 18th century it gained an unfortunate reputation as 'Black Wantage', the haunt of criminals and vagabonds^{[citation needed]} The following century, Lord Wantage became a notable local and national benefactor. He was very involved in founding the English Red Cross Society. In Wantage, he paid for a marble statue of King Alfred by Count Gleichen to be erected in the market place, where it still stands today. He also donated the Victoria Cross Gallery to the town. This contained paintings by Louis William Desanges depicting deeds which led to the award of a number of Victoria Crosses, including his own gained during the Crimean War.

Since 1848, Wantage has been home to the Community of Saint Mary the Virgin, one of the largest communities of Anglican nuns in the world. Wantage had two breweries which were taken over by Morlands of Abingdon.

Wantage has been the site of a church since at least the 10th century and the present building of the Church of St Peter and Saint Paul dates from the 13th century, with many additions since. SS Peter and Paul also contains seventeen, 15th century misericords.

King Alfred's School has a highly carved Norman doorway from the old demolished chantry chapel which once stood in the churchyard.

A water-powered mill with an undershot water wheel still stands from the time that Wantage was a major centre of the wool trade following the building of the Wilts and Berks Canal in the late 18th century.

King Alfred the Great was born in Wantage in 849.

John Betjeman, Poet Laureate from 1972 to 1984, lived in Wantage and his book, 'Archie and the Strict Baptists' is based in the town. A memorial park has now been established in the town named after him, which includes extracts from his poems in a peaceful wooded area.

Joseph Butler (1692 – 1752), Bishop of Bristol and Bishop of Durham, and author of 'The Analogy of Religion'. He was born and educated in Wantage.

William John Butler, Vicar of Wantage, Dean of Lincoln.

Alice FitzWarin, wife of Dick Whittington, legendary medieval three times Lord Mayor of the City of London, grew up in Wantage. Her father's brass memorial is in the church.

Robert James Loyd-Lindsay, Baron Wantage of Lockinge (see above).

Frances O'Connor, Anglo-Australian actress born in Wantage on 12 June 1967.

Lester Piggott, noted jockey, went to school in the town (at King Alfred's School).

Mably in France

Seesen in Germany